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Cristiano Ronaldo could face rape accuser in court in Nevada following federal judge's decision

Cristiano Ronaldo, shown playing for Italian club Juventus last month, is accused of raping a woman in Las Vegas in 2009. (Silvia Lore/Getty Images)
Cristiano Ronaldo, shown playing for Italian club Juventus last month, is accused of raping a woman in Las Vegas in 2009. (Silvia Lore/Getty Images)

A federal judge in Nevada ruled Tuesday that she will hear legal arguments to determine if Kathryn Mayorga, the American woman who in 2018 accused international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel suite in 2009, was mentally fit to enter into nondisclosure agreement with Ronaldo’s lawyers in 2010 that paid her $375,000 in exchange for her silence.

While a court date has not yet been set, it is possible Ronaldo, who lives in his native Portugal when he’s not playing for Italian club Juventus, would have to appear in person to the proceedings. Whether or not Ronaldo and Mayorga will be compelled to show up in the courtroom hasn’t yet been determined, according to the Associated Press.

In a Sept. 30 ruling, U.S. District Court judge Jennifer Dorsey wrote that a court should determine whether Mayorga was legally able to consent to the NDA. Ronaldo's lawyer declined to comment to the AP, which didn’t immediately hear back from Mayorga’s representatives.

“The court must decide whether Mayorga lacked the mental capacity to assent to the settlement agreement,” Dorsey wrote.

Ronaldo, through his attorneys, has denied the accusations, saying the sex with Mayorga was consensual and that her claims, first reported by German news outlet Der Spiegel, were a “intentional defamation campaign” against the soccer superstar, who played for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United and Real Madrid before moving to Juve in 2018.

Ronaldo and Mayorga met in a Las Vegas nightclub and he invited her up to his room, which is where Mayorga said the assault took place. She reported to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at the time, although she didn’t name Ronaldo as the perpetrator then.

After the case was reopened and reinvestigated by the LVMPD, Las Vegas’ district attorney last year said that there was insufficient evidence to charge or prosecute Ronaldo, partly because no many years had passed since the incident happened.

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